Greek prime minister Costas Karamanlis will reply later this week to a letter from his Macedonian counterpart Nikola Gruevski that asked for the recognition of a Macedonian minority in northern Greece and the return of property to Macedonian refugees who fled Greece during the 1940s civil war.

On July 14, Greek government spokesperson Theodoros Roussopoulos described the letter as containing “the well-known unacceptable claims of non-existent minorities,” Greek and international news agencies reported.

The Gruevski letter came amid continuing deadlock on the “name dispute” between Athens and Skopje, with Greece refusing to accept Macedonia calling itself by that name, expressing concern that official recognition of “Macedonia” could reinforce Skopje’s territorial claims in northern Greece.

In his letter, Gruevski said of the Macedonians who fled northern Greece during the 1946-1949 Greek Civil War: “These people were born in Greece and now are citizens of Macedonia. But those people, decades later (...) can still not reclaim their property, are banned entry to Greece and cannot seek dual citizenship”.

He told Karamanlis: “Both you and I are not able to change history and the past. But with good will, we can right many injustices from the past and certainly we can establish a much better future for our citizens”.

Gruevski asked that the Macedonian minority in Greece be given the right to education in their own language as well as the right to foster their culture and traditions.

Rejecting the existence of a Macedonian minority, Greek officials are prepared only to refer to “Slavic-language speakers” living in northern Greece.

Bulgaria’s Focus news agency, summing up Greek media reaction, said that the Apogevmatini described Gruevski’s letter as a bold provocation.

The Greek government has described attempts by Skopje to introduce new issues into their bilateral name dispute as a campaign to derail attempts to resolve the dispute.